The word is…”bully” — featuring Lisa Otter Rose

This is WordPlay — so why not revel in the power and potential of one good word after another? Today, explore “rendezvous” through the words of a featured WordPlayer and a custom-tailored writing prompt.

Meet Lisa Otter Rose

I love to be creative and that takes on different shapes depending on the season, year, etc… Whether I’m taking a picture a day for a year, writing, visual journaling, or participating in the Artist’s Way, I always need a creative outlet in my life. It is what gives my life depth and meaning.

Featured Writing

Jamie Ireland tried hard to make it past Daniel, hoping to get to her seat near the back of the bus before he tormented her again. Too late. This time he shoved her so hard that she stumbled down the aisle, almost falling into a second grader named Cody. She managed to land in her seat with a thud. Jamie’s throat tightened and her eyes stung, but she refused to cry. Instead she stuck her tongue out at Daniel.

“Nice tongue, Freckle Brain!” Daniel roared with laughter. “Thanks for sharing it with bus number two seventy-eight. Round of applause if you enjoyed seeing Jamie’s tongue today.” The bus fell silent. “That’s what I thought. No one wants to see your freakin’ tongue, Freckle Brain. You’re such a freckle-tard.”

Daniel Polk was the most evil fifth grader in the history of Westcott Elementary School, and he was out to get Jamie this year. She felt like punching him in his gopher-shaped head.

Instead, Jamie pulled out her binder and opened it up. She held it in front of her face. It helped her calm down. She read through all the nicknames she and Alexanna had thought of for Daniel Polk:

Putrid Polk

Gopher Head

Puke-Yell

Dan-evil

Nothing about her — not her tongue, her freckles, or her brain — was anybody’s business, especially not Daniel’s.

School might be over for the day, but Jamie still had to endure four more stops on this nasty bus. To say fifth grade wasn’t going well was an understatement. Today, her language arts teacher, Mrs. Tenner, yelled at her in class for turning in another messy worksheet, and then made her rewrite it during quiet reading time. Plus, Mrs. Tenner had assigned another stupid book project. And now, Daniel had shoved Jamie and tripped her just like he’d done almost every day since school started three weeks ago. She didn’t know how much more of this she could take.

Daniel Polk was the only fifth grader who didn’t sit in the back of bus #278. He sat wherever he wanted. Jamie was convinced he did this so he could trip and torment her.

Dan-evil had always been mean, but since fifth grade started he had been on a mission to torture Jamie. It was all because Alexanna had moved away. Not only was Alexanna Jamie’s best friend and next-door neighbor, she was also the only one who had any power over Puke-Yell.

Alexanna knew karate. Near the end of third grade, when Daniel had pushed her too far, she gave him a puke-inducing kick to his stomach. Jamie and Alexanna watched him throw up in the bushes near the wagon wheel where she and Alexanna used to hang out. After that, Puke-Yell never bothered them again. Until now. With Alexanna gone, the rules had changed.

The bus ride lasted forever. Jamie put her binder away as soon as Putrid Polk got off the bus. Her stop was next. She couldn’t wait to be home and not breathing in the disgusting bus stench of rotting gym socks, potato chips, and Lysol.

When #278 pulled to a stop in front of her house, she stepped off, free at last. She walked up her driveway, and immediately her mind jumped to Oreos. One of the best parts of helping her mom with the grocery shopping on weekends was that Jamie got to pick out her favorite snacks. It gave her comfort to know that inside waiting for her was a fresh, unopened package of Oreos. Unless, of course, Jake got to them first. He was all right for an older brother, but he ate like a blue whale.

WordPlay Now! Writing Prompt

The word is… “bully”

I’m handing over the prompt to Lisa Otter Rose this week: “Write about the bullies in our lives that stop us from being creative, productive or whole. The ones that whisper in our ears and tell us we can’t.” Then write ten things you can say/do to stop those bullies in their tracks. Choose one and do it, whether it’s writing your inner bully an eviction notice, signing up for a writing class, or…(your creative choice).

Alternate/additional prompt: Write about a time you, someone you know, or a character, stopped a bully in his/her tracks.

What Lisa says about WordPlay

I’ve always enjoyed writing and have kept a journal since I was twelve, but it wasn’t until I moved to Charlotte that writing became an important part of my life.

I was new in town and saw a class advertised at CPCC in the continuing education program entitled “Write From the Heart”. It just so happened that a few weeks earlier I had printed the words “Write From” inside a large red heart that I had drawn on the cover my latest journal. It was the sign I needed and so I enrolled in Maureen’s class.

Ever since I was seven years old, I wanted to write and publish a real novel, not just the one I made in second grade. Maureen has fostered my creativity and has encouraged me every step of the way. In fact, many times she has pulled me out of the fatigue ditch, dusted me off, and gave me a firm, but loving push back onto the writer’s road toward a finished novel.

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WordPlay Success StoryMeet Kim Love Stump

“Maureen’s guidance is bringing my dream of being a writer to life—one assignment, one class, one submission at a time.”

"Providence. Serendipity. Synchronicity. Whatever you prefer to call it, I experienced it when I signed up for Writing to Heal with Maureen Ryan Griffin in 2010. I chose the class, not because of the subject matter, but in spite of it. I wanted to take a writing class and the time worked best for my schedule, that was all. At least that's what I told myself.

In reality, I was carrying a constant weight of sadness from my mother's death two years earlier. Through the course and Maureen's tutelage, I experienced writing that healed my heart. The course was structured around writing about our personal pain or loss, but not just about that. Maureen encouraged me, and all of us in the class, to write about a variety of subjects and to try all kinds of writing: prose and poetry, lists and letters. By the end of the short course I felt as if the vise that had a perpetual grip on my heart had been unwound. I could breathe again.

Since that first class, I have participated in eight WordPlay "Under Construction" sessions. This has provided me with inspiration and encouragement, as well as laugh-out-loud fun and joy. It has also been very productive. I have completed a young adult fantasy novel, A Clearing in the Forest, that I have wanted to write for over a decade. Maureen's guidance is bringing my dream of being a writer to life — one assignment, one class, one submission at a time."